Hairy Bikers and Other Petrol Heads
- Thread starter Eastsidepilot
- Start date
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
The Lands End Trial was the "thing". Look at these crowds! Again KV 5212 in the frame>
This was a serious business! Although I am very proud to own the car, it is now 89 years old so it will not be put to quite this level of competition.
I might add that this was not entirely a male pursuit. Dorothy Champney and Kay Petre hold the Le Mans record for women drivers set back in 1934, coming in 13th. Dorothy Champney was engaged to Victor Riley, who arrived after the start. She jammed her hand in the door at the start and drove until the anticipated change over, when they cleaned the blood off the steering wheel! The car was also a Riley 9. Riley came in 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13.
Paul
This was a serious business! Although I am very proud to own the car, it is now 89 years old so it will not be put to quite this level of competition.
I might add that this was not entirely a male pursuit. Dorothy Champney and Kay Petre hold the Le Mans record for women drivers set back in 1934, coming in 13th. Dorothy Champney was engaged to Victor Riley, who arrived after the start. She jammed her hand in the door at the start and drove until the anticipated change over, when they cleaned the blood off the steering wheel! The car was also a Riley 9. Riley came in 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13.
Paul
Boyblunder
Western Thunderer
The crowds had thinned by 1972 on the MCC Exeter Trial. This was my Hillman Imp blasting up a hill near Beaminster I think and just before hitting a rock ledge which bashed the floor up under the pedals so I had to use the handbrake to slow down at the end of the section. There were lots of Dellows competing then and I flirted with fitting fiddle brakes in the Imp before the next event, but gave up car trials and went back to motorbikes. In hindsight that was a pity, I was better at car trials.
NHY 581
Western Thunderer
If I had to hazard a guess, Neil, I would say you bumped into the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride..........
The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride
Side By Side Worldwide. Register now for The 2024 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and join us on the 19th May 2024.
www.gentlemansride.com
Rob.
Hello All
Just looking at the photo in post 519 of the bubble car reminded me of an incident back in the early 1960s. I was out with some mates on our motorbikes, mainly 200/250cc, when we were court by one of the bubble cars and we could not drop it. Why?, well the small 2 stroke engine had been replaces with a BMW boxer engine and when it passed us we could see the cylinder heads sticking out each side.
Regards
Allen
Just looking at the photo in post 519 of the bubble car reminded me of an incident back in the early 1960s. I was out with some mates on our motorbikes, mainly 200/250cc, when we were court by one of the bubble cars and we could not drop it. Why?, well the small 2 stroke engine had been replaces with a BMW boxer engine and when it passed us we could see the cylinder heads sticking out each side.
Regards
Allen
Neil
Western Thunderer
If I had to hazard a guess, Neil, I would say you bumped into the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride..........
The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride
Side By Side Worldwide. Register now for The 2024 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and join us on the 19th May 2024.
Rob.
Your guess could well be correct, especially if the rides happen in May each year as it was May when we were in Ghent.
alastairq
Western Thunderer
Possibly because the MCCs Exeter Trial is always held [for the most part] on the first weekend in January, after the New Year? It can be darned cold in the middle of Devon's nowhere...
alastairq
Western Thunderer
Ford 100E sidevalve...1172cc, twin SU carbs, indeterminate cam, Aquaplane head & manifold and valve cover, separate, external spin on oil filter system.
When I had finally got the cobbled-up SUs sorted [cobbled in the USA]..I took it to a nearby rural rolling road tuner [of the foot long screwdriver brigade]..he sorted the needles out using the expedient of spinning them in a drill, and eyeballing with a bit of emery cloth.
Ended up with between 50 & 55 bhp at the rear wheels. Probably would have been similar if it had retained its blower....but I do have a Shorrock-type blower to hand, if I can be bothered.
It was blown, at vast expense [for the time] during the 1980's....The engine still retains the toothed bottom pulley, and the holes in the front plate for the blower bracketry.
A Dellow was a marvelous concept for a transatlantic punt over the internet. I had no issue whatsoever about the engine & running gear, regardless, since all Ford sidevalve spares are available from the Ford Sidevalve owners Club..
There were one or two pure Dellow bits...steering box [slightly less than a turn, lock to lock...very quick steering]...and the propshaft & torque tube length [shorter than Ford's Pop items.]
The rocket tube chassis [see website?] is unlikely to deteriorate, being of chrome moly steel..
The fuel tank holds 15 gallons!
I cannot afford to fill it!
Nearly 3/4s of the car's total weight is over the rear wheels.
One won the Daily Mirror Rally [forerunner of the RAC rally?]...Knowing what the car is like to drive & live with, I can't begin to imagine the difficulties the navigator had, plotting the route & reading a map? In an open car, where one's left elbow would have likely been outside?
On mine, the gearlever is on the passenger side!
The external handbrake is exactly that...a brake operated by hand. It is more effective at stopping the car from 60 mph than the footbrake.....Probably because it is a longer lever?
The parking brake is the Ford item, under the dash...and used once parked, since to apply it one needs to push hard on the footbrake first. This then locks everything up. On mine, it also means the brake lights are then permanently lit, so I would need to turn off the battery isolator [behind seats.] So, I rarely use it! If parking I tend to leave it in gear, and pull on the outside handbrake, locking it in place [it has no ratchet, obviously..it's a hand brake!] using the hook off a busted bungee strap. No way can the car be moved, even if out of gear, with the rear brakes hard on! From the factory, the outside hand-operated brake would be wired up so that, pulling the lever rearwards operated the rear brakes, and pushing the lever forwards operated the front brakes!
No wonder Dellows were hard to beat on the seafront autotests at Southport and Fleetwood? [There are old B&W movies on tinternet shwig the rapid progress of a Dellow round an autotest , compared to others.]
Mine has been trialling in my ownership....its only my feeble body pains , and the cost of fuel that prevent me doing more....That, and finding a willing passenger!
The Dellows are incredibly strong cars....and can be bounced around off-tarmac with impunity.
Dellows can also now compete in the pre-war class for trials..[bless the VSCC for their insights]... The MGOC trials{?} allow Dellows, but they are in a class of their own....for some reason.
I'd compete in the pre-war class, but to 'qualify' means finding a pair or three, suitable crossply tyres for the rear wheels.
Avons are useless, tread-pattern wise [Blockleys are useless on wet grass]...Has anyone seen the price of larger cross ply tyres recently?
[550/600 x 16 I'd need] I paid less than the cost of a tyre for my complete daily driver!
For the rears I use normally, Michelin XCS taxi tyres.....a bit stiff for a car weighing less than half a ton, bt decent rubber & tread pattern.
I also have a pair of Nankang FT-7 radials, mounted with the white lettering inwards ....which have been accepted for the MCC/ACTC tyre lists, thankfully. They have fewer plies than the taxi tyres, so are more flexible and amenable to lowering of tyre pressures in order to cope with mud & stuff.
I have one crossply Firestone....the cost of which is more than a set of 4 tyres for my daily driver!
The front wheels of the Dellow [16 inchers, or 17's if I so wish] are all shod with Avon tourists....which are too small in cross section to run on the rear.
I have the Dellow owners worksheet.....only need 17psi in the front tyres!
Sorry about the ramble...
alastairq
Western Thunderer
Yup...a '67 coupe, 6 pot engine [still 3.3 litres!] which I like better than any V8...less noisy, more economical, cheaper to fix. The whole car performs better in all respects than an MGB GT, and has more leg room. Costs are similar between the two, to run though...fuel, spares, etc all available, and cheaply too, probably as good, if not better, than those from Moss?
Got it to use up a pension pot, reckon it would 'make' more than sticking said pot in an ISA or somesuch.
Cost a round half the price of a similar V8 car...Yet when driving, it woofles along [auto box, Ford C4]...and keeps ahead of the prevailing traffic of today. Great at roundabouts....takes off with huge torque..here today, gone today! Literally, it digs in & goes...
There is a large 6 pot following in the USA..in preference to the V8 world.
Ford used their inline sixes as basic engines in everything they made...cars, pickups, 4x4s vans..even the Galaxy base model has the 6 pot.
Indeed, they still used an enlarged version in their pickups until quite recently.
CAme in a variety of sizes, but basically the same engine...Australia also had it, but they went better than Ford USA.
170 cu in, 200, 250, 300, 400 cu in....not high on bhp, but huge on torque and stronger than the V8s..[more crank bearings, for starters]
Plus, they're lighter than Ford's V8s, so the Muzzie is more pleasant to drive on UK's roads.
Sadly, I'm planning on floggin' it...son needs cash soon, etc etc...Daughter got married with it, so it's secondary purpose is gone.
She wont be happy cos it was always going to be her inheritance, so she thought!
I don't get on with the attention it garners though....and I hate washing things like cars! But, one feels compelled to clean it!
I really like driving my old cars, in preference to anything that got made this century...less boswellox for starters.
Connectivity? WTF is that all about??
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
We drove the Lynx over to a local farm shop this afternoon and coming back we were stuck behind the local school bus. The kids on the back seat waved and gave the thumbs up. The bus stopped several times and at each stop we had an enthusiastic reception from waiting parents. Not always the reception we get from the large expensive “get out of my way” Chelsea Tractors!
Eastsidepilot
Western Thunderer
Very nice, I do like Yankee motors, I dabbled with a 'Fast Ford' also in the shape of a '90 'T' Bird SC, 35th Anniversary model,
it was intercooled and supercharged if you drove it enthusiastically through the twisty stuff it would step out sideways or drift on all fours coming out of bends and roundabouts
the supercharger being belt driven gave instant boost, no lag !For more sedate driving, in a straight line however, my the 350 v8 Chevy at post #135 was also fun.
Col.
alastairq
Western Thunderer
Indeed they did ! Hence the chrome-moly steel reference!
The tubes weren't quite long enough for Dellow's purposes, so had to be joined.
The outcome was that often the cars had slots or holes in the chassis tubes for which there was no obvious purpose. These being where fins and mounts were located on the originals.
Dellow Myths | dellowregister
www.dellowregister.co.uk
Incidentally, the piece just above that I alluded to in a post further up, shows my car [in red back then] in the group photos.
Boyblunder
Western Thunderer
I hadn't heard about the DGR before, perhaps I'll have a go next year. Just after Christmas my 91 year old Father-in-Law told me in the pub that he didn't think he was going to ride his Moto Guzzi V50 anymore and would I like it. So the next week we spent 3 hours clearing a path through his garage to heave it out. The photo shows my son pondering the beast next to F-i-L's Honda CX500 (which he is keeping) and you can just glimpse the side of a 1960 4 wheel BMW Isetta inside the garage. I thought F-i-L had ridden the V50 for several years after buying from his son but it turns out it had only done 614 miles from new and ran out of tax in 1979. It needed a lot of cleaning and the 6 litres of petrol remaining in the tank had created a sludge that was a devil to shift. After much flushing of carbs, new petrol taps, fuel pipes and battery it started almost immediately and runs well. Both the brake master cylinders had leaked and have now been overhauled. The tyres had been kept in the dark and looked brand new but I don't trust 43 year rubber so they were changed for new sticky Avons. I've taken it for a ride to check the transmission etc., everything works fine and the idea of doing the DGR with some of my biker mates in Cambridge flitted across my mind while eating porridge this morning but it really does need the flexible brake pipes changing before any serious rides.If I had to hazard a guess, Neil, I would say you bumped into the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride..........
The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride
Side By Side Worldwide. Register now for The 2024 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and join us on the 19th May 2024.
Rob.
.
NHY 581
Western Thunderer
What a brilliant 'find', a proper time capsule. With that history and those family ties that must surely be a keeper. If it were me, that tax disc has to stay in place...........
Lovely bike.
Rob.
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
You can buy "original" tax discs and holders. My Lynx came with one:
simond
Western Thunderer
Excellent!
I hope it’s a keeper, but given the condition, I’d guess it’s worth a fair bit more now than it cost.
Moto Guzzi club is at Moto Guzzi Club GB - The Home of Moto Guzzi Enthusiasts
useful forum at Moto Guzzi Riders Forum
I hope it’s a keeper, but given the condition, I’d guess it’s worth a fair bit more now than it cost.
Moto Guzzi club is at Moto Guzzi Club GB - The Home of Moto Guzzi Enthusiasts
useful forum at Moto Guzzi Riders Forum
Boyblunder
Western Thunderer
I'm definitely keeping the V50 although the tax disc has been removed. The holder isn't very pretty so now the disc itself is a treasured item on my display shelf. I joined the Moto Guzzi Owners Club GB as soon as I collected the bike, GNR Susie of this forum persuaded me to do so and I hear she has just ordered a new one. Now it's Eastsidepilot's turn to buy a Guzzi then we can hold our own Love Lane Motto Guzzi rally.